#3: Should You Put Your Pricing on Your Website?
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What do small business owners often spend way too much time thinking about?
In this episode, I'm talking about one of the biggest dilemmas business owners spend way too much time debating over.
And I'm talking specifically to service-based business owners who are just starting out or in the early days, somewhere between one to three years in their business.
But, wherever you are in your journey, it's actually a website tip that everyone wants to know, and it will really impact your service business.
It’s the often-asked question: ‘Should I put my pricing on my website?’
Main Points
0:02: Should I put my pricing on my website?
1:58: A 12-month experiment to get the facts
4:40: What happened after I took my pricing off the website
7:01: Why it’s not enough to just know something is broken - Understanding your client's buying psychology
8:49: Client perceptions: What they are and why you need to listen to them
12:14: Why don’t some business owners like to put their pricing on their websites?
14:39: Why using a pricing guide as a lead magnet is a bad idea
17:13: If your pricing is so complex that it needs a lengthy explanation and a whole conversation piece, there’s something wrong
19:25: No matter what you do, copycats are going to steal your ideas and undercut your pricing
21:45: Why you need to think twice before you take your pricing off your website
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Show Notes:
0:02
Hello and welcome to today's episode of the brilliant business beautiful life Podcast. Today I'm talking about one of the biggest dilemmas business owners spend way too much time debating over. And I'm talking specifically to service-based business owners who are just starting out or in the early days, like between one to three years in their business because if you're past that point, you will have already figured this out. Well, most likely, you have. And it's actually a website tip that everyone wants to know and it will really impact your service business. So what is it? It's “Should I put my pricing on my website?” So stay tuned, you're about to find out.
So let's jump into the question I'm answering, “Should I put my pricing on my website?” I actually did an experiment to dive into the facts and see whether this would make a difference. Because there are so many differing opinions on this topic. Many marketing gurus say you should actually take your pricing off your website as it will encourage people to make contact with you and get on your mailing list, so you can have a conversation around it, and none of your pricing will be misconstrued.
1:58
That is a very popular train of thought, and I wanted to test it. So I did, and I was surprised by the results. So I'm going to tell you first what I did in the experiment. It was two steps. It was a 12-month experiment split into six to six-month periods. So step one, for six months, I listed all my pricing on my website. In fact, I had always listed all of my pricing on my website, but I've never tracked any of the metrics. So for this experiment, I started tracking. Everything was fabulous. I was getting lots of inquiries and initial consultation bookings. And importantly, the discovery calls or those consultations all have really good conversion rates, around 95%. And that's excellent. And during my discovery calls, I didn't have any pricing questions during those calls. None. Because people already knew the pricing before they started chatting with me. And it also meant that my potential clients were very comfortable with the proposals that I sent them. And there were minimal, if any, questions throughout the entire signup process. So that was the first part of the six months everything was going swimmingly, great conversions, lots of inquiries, and no issues.
Step two was the following six months, and during that time, I removed all the pricing from my website so that I could really drill down and determine whether this is going to make a difference or not. So specifically, what I tracked was enquiries, bookings and sales and the metrics I was looking at to work with whether they increased or decreased or whether they would stay the same. Basically, I wanted to know for a fact what would happen by taking down my pricing. So during that six-month period, I replaced all the pricing on my website with a button for people to download my services and pricing guide, and then I created a PDF document with all my services, the package inclusions pricing and add-ons, and all of the conditions and linked it behind those buttons on the website. Where I had services with multiple packages, for example, my website design services, I've got three levels of packages. I listed a “starting from price” and also had the button to download the service pricing guide. That was for the next six months.
4:40
So what happened, did anything change to my inquiries and sales increase, or did they decrease? As I said earlier, the results really surprised me. And based on the popular beliefs of the marketing gurus I mentioned earlier, I expected an increase in signups to my emailing list, an increase in enquiries and an increase in sales. So what happened? The absolute opposite happened. People stopped signing up. Enquiries dropped, and bookings dropped. Consequently, my conversion rate dropped. Everything dropped. It was like I fell off the face of the planet. People hated not seeing my pricing on my website. And the result of that was crickets, absolute crickets. Now I did persevere, holding my breath for the entire six months as planned so that I could really track the metrics. Because if I had just panicked and put my pricing back up, it could have just been a little glitch. It could have been, you know, something happening just for that month or those few weeks. So I really need to stay the path and just really track this properly. So that's what I did. Now remember, the only thing in my entire business that I did differently was to take my pricing off the website. That's it. I didn't change my services. I didn't change my marketing. I did not change a single thing except removing my prices from my website. So previously, I was getting lots of inquiries and bookings and calls and that 95% conversion rate and that dropped dramatically during this six-month period. Thankfully, for my finances, I was fully booked out during that six months, and I also have retainer clients. And if I didn't, it would have been really difficult to continue that experiment. So while I still had income and clients during that time, I actually lost momentum for the following six months. That was the flow-on effect. So removing my prices from the website. It was actually a really great experiment to do because it's given such a clear answer as to which approach to pricing works, even though it hurt my bottom line.
But, you know, just knowing that, that taking your pricing off the website has a catastrophic effect on your sales. It's not enough just knowing that it's not enough to just know something is broken. I needed to know why it was broken. I needed to learn more from this experiment. So by breaking the situation down and investigating all the little nuances, I could then really look into all the different aspects and determine why this was the effect of not having my pricing on and then make a strategy to fix things.
7:01
So just like a mechanic can't fix a car if he doesn't know what's broken. I needed to get into the psychology of my potential clients and discover the real reason taking my prices down had such an astonishing effect on inquiries and bookings drying up. How did I break it down easily? By talking to people and listening to their thoughts and their, feelings and their opinions. This wasn't a scientific part of the experiment. This was just getting real and getting personal. Because at the end of the day, it was people choosing to click that button or not choosing to click the buttons.
8:49
I wanted to understand what it meant to them. How did it make them feel? And why did they choose not to click my button? And here's what they had to say. I'm talking about the three top things. The first thing they thought was “What are you hiding?” By taking my price off my website and directing them to download a pricing guide, they felt I needed to hide my pricing because I must be way too expensive. They also thought that I was baiting them to get their details before hooking them into something and then just spamming them. They assumed that I'd send them lots of DMs and I'd be in their inbox way too often and just be annoying to them. So they weren't interested in working with someone that they thought was hiding things or was being secretive. It created a feeling of distrust, which is the complete opposite of what their experience would have been if they had worked with me if I'd had the chance to do so by them clicking the button. So, in short, taking my pricing off and replacing it with the instruction to download my services and pricing guide created a strong feeling of distrust for potential clients. So that's really bad. The second thing that they said was, I don't have the time. People said they don't have time to do that entire signup process. They didn't want to fill in their details. They didn't want to get an email, then have to confirm that email, then download the guide and then scroll through it to eventually get to what they wanted. Their comments were that I'm already on your website. Why can't you just tell me? And they're right! They were already where I wanted them to be. They were already where they wanted to be. And the only thing keeping them from booking a call with me was knowing the price. By taking the price off my website. I actually made it really difficult for them, and when you're trying to get people on your website to book a call, it must be as easy as possible. And what did I do? I complicated the process and made it very difficult for them, and they hated it. They’d click the button realise what was what would happen, and shut it all down. The third answer is very similar to the one just before I can't be bothered. It's a very similar persona to the people who say they don't have time except these people won't even find out about the signup process in the first place. They won't even click the button. Someone's direct comment was “I just want to know the price. If it's not there. I am not going to be bothered doing anything else. I don't have the time or the interest. And there are plenty of other competitors out there that I can get what I want straightaway.” So by removing the price, it created a huge set of obstacles for my potential clients. And that is the absolute opposite effect of what was intended by putting up the pricing guide and following the advice of other marketing gurus. So as I said earlier, I thought that there'd be a potential for increased inquiries and quality inquiries and higher conversion rates. Unfortunately, the results speak the complete opposite. Taking prices off your service business website has the potential to seriously make a negative impact on your business. Obviously, I'm talking specifically about service-based businesses. However, if you're a product-based business, you would never consider not having pricing on your website we do. That's just essential and the number one rule of a product-based business, so I'm not talking to your businesses. For service businesses. there's always been a query box around this topic. Everyone debates it all the time. Do I put my pricing on? Don't I put my pricing on? What's the best approach? We’ll I'm laying it all out here for you. Put your pricing on your website. And if you do have a few different packages, or you offer some custom services as well, it's fine to have a “Starting from” price for those items, if you have your full pricing listed for your more standard services. When you've been open, transparent and honest with all of your other pricing, but you don't want to clutter up your website with detailed pricing on bespoke offerings, people are actually really okay with you just having the from pricing for those items, and they won't resist that. So that's okay, where you've got pricing on everything else.
12:14
Now I want to also look at the flip side. And this is from the business owner’s perspective. Why don't some business owners put their pricing on their websites? There is a camp of “do’s” and the ones who don't, and they both have very strong opinions on this. So I delved into this a little bit, as well. The number one reason people don't put their pricing on their website is that they want to get more people onto their mailing list. And they think that if they leave the pricing off and create the downloadable pricing guide, just like I did during the experiment, that people will happily hand over their email addresses for the privilege of learning their price. This theory doesn't work. It's the complete opposite. You should never use your pricing guide as a lead magnet. That's essentially what this theory is. Your lead magnet is not your pricing guide. That's not what it's for. People will join your mailing list happily if they feel you're giving them value and something for nothing but giving them a pricing guide, you're not giving them anything. You're not giving to them you're taking from them. What does your potential client want? They want to know if they can afford to work with you, and if they see value in your offerings. They want the price, and they want to know what you're offering. And by withholding this and making it difficult, your potential clients feel like you're being demanding and sneaky and you're not caring about what you give them. That you don’t care about giving them what they need. So instead, they feel you're expecting something from them without even caring on the first day. So to get people onto your mailing list, create a really good freebie that adds value and gives your potential clients something they need to solve a problem quickly and easily by creating a free product that's so full of your care and heart and value. When they sign up and download it. You'll make them feel that you genuinely care about them. They will read it and think well, this person really knows what they're talking about. And they put a lot of effort into helping me for nothing. That is what your freebie is for. And that is how you're going to get people onto your mailing list. So make a freebie and advertise it left, right, and centre, and you'll get people onto your mailing list. Your services and pricing guide is not for that purpose, and it's really important to separate the purpose of these two items in your mind. Your services and pricing guide is you wanting to get something from your potential clients. While your freebie is creating a relationship. You're giving something of value to someone else, and people happily give you their email addresses for that.
17:13
The second reason business owners don't put their pricing on their website is that they think people won't understand the value they're offering all the value that they're giving you people just see that price. And it's a misconception by many service providers that’s probably based on advice that they're given. And that is, they need to explain their pricing and the value it provides, and they think that they need to talk to people to make them understand it, which is why they want to get all of their details. This is counterproductive because people just don't want that. They don't want you to have to explain it to them. If your pricing is so complex that it needs a lengthy explanation and a whole conversation piece, there's something wrong. It needs to be simple and crystal clear. So what's the solution? If you need to explain it to people by having a conversation you need to dumb it down, and make it as easy as possible for people. You can easily remove that barrier because you've just created a barrier by your need for talking and explaining, with copywriting. Really good copy on your website will explain everything to your potential clients for you. And that's the purpose of having great website copy. You overcome client obstacles by having carefully crafted strategic words in the right places on your website. And copywriting provides all the answers to potential clients and allows a space for them to see and feel the value in what you offer. Copywriting actually is powerful. It removes those barriers and deletes obstacles, and it creates a need for people to know more about you and to what actually want to work with you. This is what your website is for. You've already done all the good work of getting people to your website. So now you need to let your website do its job and communicate your value on your behalf. And when you've got the right messaging through your website copywriting, it will do two things. It will attract the right people to you. And it will repel the people who don't want to work with the people who aren't right for you. Because like I'm always saying, not everyone's right for you. So quality copywriting is critical for your website and removes the barrier you created.
19:25
The third thing that business owners say is they don't want their competition to know what they charge. Well. Copycats are going to steal your ideas and they're going to undercut your pricing. It's unavoidable. I've actually had instances where my copywriting, my content, pricing, my structuring and my packages were completely ripped off. I've had other copywriters and website designers basically copy and paste my content onto their websites. Now I'd be lying if I said that didn't annoy the heck out of me because it does! It’s highly unethical. It's rude. And that's my work. Don't steal my work. So I really understand business owners’ frustration around trying to protect their pricing. But don't let that be the reason you create obstacles for your clients. Because whatever you do, someone will copy you. Competitors will emulate what you do. And if it's really becoming a problem, there are legal paths that you can and should explore. So talk to an IP lawyer early in your small business journey to make sure you have all the proper protections in place. Now think about this from a different angle. Those copycats are not really impacting your business, are they? Why? Because they're clearly trying to get to where you already are. They're a few steps behind you, and they'll stay behind you because you're already well and truly on your path forward. You're teaching them. They're learning from you. They're not going to do things better than you because they're still in more infant steps. So don't let them stop you. And the big key point here on this particular topic is that making business decisions based on fear is never a good practice. When you're trying to hide your prices from your competitors, you're coming from a place of fear, you're scared that they're going to beat you. When you do that, you're losing your power, and you're handing it all over to your competitors. So take back your power and never ever, ever make business decisions based on fear. It's a terrible practice.
Sorry, I'm getting on my high horse there, but it's a terrible practice. Don't do it. So while the last six months of this experiment were a little more challenging because of the decreased inquiries, it was so worthwhile. Its given such a great insight into how our clients think and feel about pricing. And it's made what's important to them abundantly clear.
21:45
So think twice before you take your pricing off your website because it has the potential to really hurt your business. And that's not what you want. The data doesn't lie. The data can be viewed from any angle, and it tells the same story. Having great content on your website is crucial. The right copywriting will answer all of your potential clients’ questions and overcome their objections. And it will also create a lovely like, know and trust factor for the people who are on your website. Your pricing then cements that know, like and trust feel because you're being open, you're being honest and transparent. People will only deal with people they feel upfront with them. So if you're upfront right from the beginning, give them what they need quickly. They'll be more inclined to work with you and book that initial call. Plus, their initial call will run so much more smoothly, because they already feel comfortable with you. And you've given them that essential information they need in a way that is easy for them to consume. And while there are valid reasons for not putting your pricing up, it's essential for you to consider this question from your clients’ perspective through their lens with everything you do in your business. You should always come from an angle of a great user experience. Because you know what? Sometimes your reasons and your perspective aren’t what matters.
Now, I hope that answers the question of whether or not to list your prices on your website. My perspective is to put your pricing on your website. Don't worry about the copycats, and use your freebies to provide value as you collect emails. But most importantly, always think of the customer experience first.
Thank you so much for being here and listening to this episode on the brilliant business beautiful life podcast. I hope you found it valuable and it really answered that question and took away all the debate around whether you should or should not put your pricing on your website. And because your website is the key critical component of your overall marketing for your business because all roads lead to your website right. Starting next week, I will be giving a three-part series on how to get lots of SEO juice flowing through your website and ramp up your traffic and conversions. The first will be running through what SEO is and really making that clear in a non-techie way, and it's designed for you people early on in your journey who may not know what it is. So we're going to demystify SEO. Then in the second part of the series, I'm going to talk about how to create really sticky content with all the SEO seedlings you need that are really going to keep working for you on your website for years and help create that lovely flow of traffic to your website. It'll make Google love you! In the third part of this series, I'll be sharing eight website SEO tips to really get the eyes on your business. They're really easy strategic things that you can do to implement in your business straight away that will help boost your SEO. Now remember that SEO is a long game. It's not a short-term thing. It's not like putting a reel on Instagram and looking for how many views or likes, or comments you've had. It's not that at all, SEO is a long-term strategy. So through this three-part series, I'm really going to simplify it. I'm going to demystify it, and you're going to be chomping at the bit to get into your SEO and ramp up that SEO juice on your website. So that's coming up next week.
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Hi, I’m Samantha Bell
I’m all about helping you build the business – and life – you’ve always wanted.
Listen in for the simple, actionable strategies, mindset shifts, and practices you need to make your business thrive. Plus, a healthy dose of self-care, health, and wellness so you can live the life you absolutely adore while building your beautiful business.
